to start with, im a complete noob at scripting and making maps, but i'll tryi dont know if this idea has been proposed before , but i want to make a map of 16th century hungary with her neighboursi didnt start making the map but heres the real map with no regions

It says on your profile that your interests are history (good choice!). Did you choose the 16th century with something in mind?

Off the top of my head, I know that towards the end of the century the Autro-Hungarians were suffering from a host of political and military troubles- the rise of the Estates legislatures, dynastic feuds between the Archdukes, a botched war with the Turks that ended in a stalemate. Oh, and of course clashes with the Protestant majority among the nobles in Bohemia and Upper Austria that presaged the horror of the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

Any one of these might lend a theme to the map (the feud between Archdukes Rudolph, Matthias and Ferdinand jumps out at me for some reason).

Incidentally, is there any intention of including as an 'outside' territory the Holy Roman Empire, as it was nominally the Hapsburg stomping grounds? Or is this map concened more with Hungary proper, and not the ambitions of their fellow Austrians?

MarshalNey wrote:Graphics concerns aside, did you have any ideas for the map gameplay?

It says on your profile that your interests are history (good choice!). Did you choose the 16th century with something in mind?

Off the top of my head, I know that towards the end of the century the Autro-Hungarians were suffering from a host of political and military troubles- the rise of the Estates legislatures, dynastic feuds between the Archdukes, a botched war with the Turks that ended in a stalemate. Oh, and of course clashes with the Protestant majority among the nobles in Bohemia and Upper Austria that presaged the horror of the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

Any one of these might lend a theme to the map (the feud between Archdukes Rudolph, Matthias and Ferdinand jumps out at me for some reason).

Incidentally, is there any intention of including as an 'outside' territory the Holy Roman Empire, as it was nominally the Hapsburg stomping grounds? Or is this map concened more with Hungary proper, and not the ambitions of their fellow Austrians?

ya, i like history and austro-hungary is my favourite, but since theres a map already i decided to make one about the ottoman-austrian clash in hungaryhungary was devastated cause of the continuoes attacks by habsburgs and ottomans and hungar revoloutionaries

well i didnt think about adding the protestant-catholic clash , i want the map to be focused on hungaryfor example, holding transylvania , wallachia and moldavia gives you a bonus for holding romaniawhile holding royal hungary , ottoman hungary and transylvania gives you a bonus for holding hungaryand probably another bonus if you hold all of austrian empire ( royal hungary , bohemia , austria and transylvania ) and a bonus for holding ottoman empire ( ottomans , ottoman hungary , transylvania , moldavia and wallachia )

Then some general advice: use the layers to your advantage. Whenever you add anything to the map, create a new layer for it. Sometimes I even use multiple layers for the same object. This will pay off later on, whenever you need to change anything...

Then some general advice: use the layers to your advantage. Whenever you add anything to the map, create a new layer for it. Sometimes I even use multiple layers for the same object. This will pay off later on, whenever you need to change anything...

easy, easy .... im just a begginer i dont even know whats the use of layers or how to use them

Layers are basically how the image is built. They're just images stacked on top of each other. For example, you'll have the background on one layer, outlines on second layer, the land area on another layer, text on another layer... The background usually is fully opaque, the other layers are partially transparent. The layers together form the final image.

The opacity of the layers can be adjusted, so that you can have semi-transparent objects on the image, where background shows through... the army circles are usually made this way.

OK... I'll break this down as best I can. Natty hit the nail on the head when he described layers. Everything you do, borders, colors, rivers, ect are going to be in different layers.

The first thing to do is fix those rough borders.

Create a new layer and label it borders. Zoom in to about %600. Select the brush tool, black color and size 3 px. Systematically trace over the borders. It doesn't have to be exact but close will do. You will ultimately be deleting your original image, so don't worry about it.

Once you've done that create a new layer and label it rivers. Do the exact same as the above with a bluish color of your choice. Trace over the rivers.

One of the big problems with this map, imo, is that the tri-colors of the empires contrast with each other too much. Make the Ottoman Empire various shades of red, make the Austrian's various shades of white, make Hungary shades of Green. (or colors of your choice). That way the regions have some sort of graphical unity.

Next, you're going to want to apply these colors...

Create a new Layer and label it Ottoman Hungary. Get your brush tool and change the color to something like burgundy. Increase the size of the brush to about 20. Color in the regions that comprise Ottoman Hungary. Shrink the brush to maybe a 5 px and get in the little nooks and crannies of the border. When you're done you should have a much clearer map of Ottoman Hungary.

Repeat the above step for all your regions, including the sea. When you're done, you'll have a better looking map.

Since I've got a mac I can't get myself Paint.net... but since Natty does perhaps he can point out how to make a new layer and what the brush looks like, how to change size and color, ect.

i made the borders and saved the image so i can put it here , but i cant open it !! it says its not a valid win32 application , what can i do ?

What format did you save the image in?

When you're editing the image, you work on the .pdn file. This is the layered image, and you need to keep one to keep working on the image. But when you want to publish the image, you need to save a copy that is non-layered. For this you need to save the image in .png format, this will merge all the layers into one and save the image in a format that can be viewed on web pages.

Then just host the .png file on imageshack, and keep the .pdn file for further editing.

i made the borders and saved the image so i can put it here , but i cant open it !! it says its not a valid win32 application , what can i do ?

What format did you save the image in?

When you're editing the image, you work on the .pdn file. This is the layered image, and you need to keep one to keep working on the image. But when you want to publish the image, you need to save a copy that is non-layered. For this you need to save the image in .png format, this will merge all the layers into one and save the image in a format that can be viewed on web pages.

Then just host the .png file on imageshack, and keep the .pdn file for further editing.

and how do i make it a png?

EDIT: sorry that was a retarded question, anyway i found out how to do it

this is what happens when i zoom to 600% and put the brush on 3 ...........